Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
_______________________________________________________________________________

The Singer Not The Song
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

RCA Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 5, 1965

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals
Keith Richards - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmony vocals, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar

Ev'rywhere you want, I always go
I always give in because baby, you know
You just say so 'cause you give me that feeling inside
That I know must be right
It's the singer not the song

It's not the way you give in willingly
Others do it without thrilling me
Giving me that same old feeling inside
That I know I must be right
It's the singer not the song

The same old places and the same old songs
We've been going there for much too long
There's something wrong and it gives me that feeling inside
That I know I must be right
It's the singer not the song
It's the singer not the song
It's the singer not the song

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Get Off Of My Cloud / The Singer Not The Song” 7” single
(Decca F 12263) UK, October 22, 1965

A favorite of mine..Sounds very typical Stones-sixties...

2 1 2 0

A harmless and simple, but lovely pop tune.

It's not the way you give in willingly
Others do it without thrilling me

One of the great 60s b-sides. They were really getting their song-writing chops together with this one. The chord sequence and melody are worthy of the Brill Building. Aftermath is just around the corner. Love it.

A nice pop tune, ruined by out-of-tune instruments. How they could let this issue pass, shows how stressing these studio sessions were before Aftermath.

Quote
Blueranger
A nice pop tune, ruined by out-of-tune instruments. How they could let this issue pass, shows how stressing these studio sessions were before Aftermath.

..or that George Martin wasn't their recording-manager... I think it's kind of the sixties charm with this sometimes out-of-tune instruments...

2 1 2 0

It's part of the start of the writing partnership that blossomed just a few years later....

...I love the feel of it and the tempo. Its a move away from the Berry-influence and a move to the soul influence I find so prominent on Aftermath and Out of Our Heads...somehow it dovetails into Out of Time and Under my Thumb for me, sonically.

Yes, it's horribly out of tune, but you know what? I just don't mind at all!

A magnificent tune. Might it have been deliberately out of tune to give it that emotional 'edge' that I can't put into words? It works for me as is! Played it over and over on a 45 as a kid!

This song is a highlight of December's Children.

Utterly forgettable pop fluff.

Drew

Ballads are part of Rock and Roll

Enjoy!!!

Awful production but then much of what Oldham did was as he wasn't a producer's bootlace.
The song is pretty dull and lacks atmosphere. And that falsesetto vocal at the end (Keith?) is cringeworthy.

Quote
OzHeavyThrobber
Awful production but then much of what Oldham did was as he wasn't a producer's bootlace.
The song is pretty dull and lacks atmosphere. And that falsesetto vocal at the end (Keith?) is cringeworthy.

These were the early days. Everyone matures at different rates. There is nothing wrong with this song.

...out of tune...maybe..!! but that brings all the charm of this track...!!

Lots of Stones tracks are out of tune. Listen to the intro of All Down The Line

We must remember that this and other tunes were recorded over just 2 days in the middle of a tour. This session, however, shows it was a matter of just getting the latest single done and to cut some album tracks a fast pace. "I'm Free" also suffers from bad playing from Charlie and "Blue Turns To Grey" was already an old tune.

5th September
Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood.
Producer: Andrew Oldham.
Sound engineer: Dave Hassinger.

Get Off Of My Cloud
She Said Yeah
The Singer Not The Song
Talkin’ ‘Bout You

6th September
Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood.
Producer: Andrew Oldham.
Sound engineer: Dave Hassinger.

Blue Turns To Grey
Gotta Get Away
I'm Free
Looking Tired

Love the track---My 1st Stones album.
Loved it then and still love it today.

A track from my first Stones album as well: Bravo compilation 65.
And I always liked it very much.

Quote
CaptainGlassback
A magnificent tune. Might it have been deliberately out of tune to give it that emotional 'edge' that I can't put into words? It works for me as is! Played it over and over on a 45 as a kid!

I think you're giving Loog and the boys WAY too much credit here.

Quote
treaclefingers

Quote
CaptainGlassback
A magnificent tune. Might it have been deliberately out of tune to give it that emotional 'edge' that I can't put into words? It works for me as is! Played it over and over on a 45 as a kid!

I think you're giving Loog and the boys WAY too much credit here.

Spot on.

What I can't believe is the pace that they worked back then. The Ireland tour was Sept 3-4 which Charlie Is My Darling was filmed. Fly overnight to LA and in the studio the next day to record 8 songs over the next 2 days!

Those opening electric guitar notes, the riff that we hear throughout the song, as well as the chiming acoustic notes Keith is playing, it speaks of a Byrds influence, kind of that chiming Rickenbacker guitar sound but without the actual Rickenbacker guitars. It's their ode to the electric folk rock of the time (it's also as close as they would ever come to sounding a bit like Peter and Gordon [think I Go To Pieces] or Chad and Jeremy [think A Summer Song]), and not another song the Stones recorded before or since sounds quite like it. It's definitely the sound not the singer or the song.

The 12-string is terribly our of tune, but this track has loads of charm, especially Keith's falsetto harmony vocal at the end.

Charm is fine for about a minute, but eight minutes of that charm is a bit too much charm and not enough tongue.

Quote
Come On

Quote
Blueranger
A nice pop tune, ruined by out-of-tune instruments. How they could let this issue pass, shows how stressing these studio sessions were before Aftermath.

..or that George Martin wasn't their recording-manager... I think it's kind of the sixties charm with this sometimes out-of-tune instruments...

I'd add that to certain songs, the franticness and controled chaos also adds to that sixties charm. I doubt the Doors would have been half as successful without their wild front man (and keyboards), same with the Who and Keith Moon's shenanigans. Controlled chaos and out-of-tune notes, sixties charm!

The first line of melody has a resemblance to a tune by a certain Liverpool pop group.

[www.youtube.com]

Quote
Chris Fountain

Quote
OzHeavyThrobber
Awful production but then much of what Oldham did was as he wasn't a producer's bootlace.
The song is pretty dull and lacks atmosphere. And that falsesetto vocal at the end (Keith?) is cringeworthy.

These were the early days. Everyone matures at different rates. There is nothing wrong with this song.

I am aware they were early days and that people mature at different rates. Neither point addresses my fundamental problem with the song however: it's boring and a non event. It also doesn't help the production is awful, it's too slow and the vocals are weak as is the melody. To my ears there is plenty wrong with the song. Glad you enjoy it though. I love "Melody" and appear to be one of the few about here that do. All just opinion.

Quote
OzHeavyThrobber

Quote
Chris Fountain

Quote
OzHeavyThrobber
Awful production but then much of what Oldham did was as he wasn't a producer's bootlace.
The song is pretty dull and lacks atmosphere. And that falsesetto vocal at the end (Keith?) is cringeworthy.

These were the early days. Everyone matures at different rates. There is nothing wrong with this song.

I am aware they were early days and that people mature at different rates. Neither point addresses my fundamental problem with the song however: it's boring and a non event. It also doesn't help the production is awful, it's too slow and the vocals are weak as is the melody. To my ears there is plenty wrong with the song. Glad you enjoy it though. I love "Melody" and appear to be one of the few about here that do. All just opinion.

Melody sucks balls..."Singer" is a pretty well-crafted little pop tune, while Melody is just a blues vamp with Billy and Mick basically goofing over it. Nothing there of substance.

If at a party and had to choose which of the two to showcase I'd go "Melody" any day. Yes it's a blues vamp and that's what the Stones still claim in part they are or at least are at the core of what they are.

SNTS is pop garbage also devoid of substance but musically speaking instead of lyrically which is the flip of "Melody".

Out of tune guitars, weak chord structure, poor playing and delivery from a band that sounds (rightly so it would seem) jaded. In spite of having already written a few gems to date (Satisfaction, GOOMC, ATGB, PWF) Jagger and Richards were still cutting their respective chops as songwriters. This song was fine to use as a tool for developing that skill, I don't think it should have been released as was for the world to listen to however. It is bottom class filler with a producer at the helm that rarely jagged getting it right.

It should have been promoted only as a treatment for insomnia.